handgun for aperson with one hand

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i was in a car accident and was left with a paralyzed left hand and arm, luckily im right handed. im interested in purchasing a handgun and was hoping someone had some ideas or advice on models or what to look for. something with not too much kick that can be cocked and loaded with one hand, and wont cost an arm and a leg, only one arm to spare LOL. i was interested in the hk p9 squeeze cocker, but its a lil out of my price range, so any help would be greatly appreciated.
thank you,
david

Most quality autopistols can be effectively operated one-handed/right-handed with a only a little practice; I see no real need to limit yourself to a specific model, unless that is your preference. Adding extended versions of some pistol controls (such as the slide release and magazine catch) might be helpful for one-handed operation. I'm a big Glock fan, and I shoot them one-handed fairly regularly, both to practice for competitions and to keep my one-handed (injured shooter) defensive skills sharp.

Many years ago, I knew a dedicated bulls-eye pistol shooter (NRA Standard Pistol competitor) who had a physical challenge similar to yours. After he recovered from the accident, he wanted to continue shooting, and so he designed and built (with the help of several shooting buddies) a custom "shooting station" that would assist him in manipulating the pistol for loading, unloading, and even clearing stoppages/malfunctions. Using something similar, you should be able to target-shoot just about any handgun(s) you'd like.

The basic requirements are a "cocking assist" block to aid in moving the slide to the rear during cocking/loading and unloading; a place to secure a magazine so you can fill it with ammunition; and a spot to hold the pistol with it securely pointing in a safe/downrange direction during sight adjustments, breaks in shooting, inserting a magazine, etc. In his case, most everything was made of wood, and attached to a board which was C-clamped to the benchtop at his shooting position. He had an angled block with a countersunk hole in the face, so he could align the front of the slide with the hole and press down, and the slide would be pushed to the rear for loading, unloading, and locking the slide back. He used a modified clamp to hold magazines during loading, and had a dedicated "tray" for loaded mags as well as ones waiting to be filled.

If you're interested in something like that, give me a few weeks, and I'll work up a prototype using one of my Glocks, and take a quick video clip of it being used at the range.

"Placement is power" -- seen in an article by Stephen A. Camp
(RIP, Mr. Camp; you will be remembered, and missed)

I have a brother-in-law who lost an arm when a teenager. He shoots rifles, shotguns, Ruger Blackhawk (.44 magnum) single-actions and S&W double-actions (.357 magnum)very well. He never had an interest in semi-autos, but having seen all the things he does better than most folks with two hands, I have no doubt he could master a semi-auto, if he decided to.

Most quality autopistols can be effectively operated one-handed/right-handed with a only a little practice; I see no real need to limit yourself to a specific model, unless that is your preference. Adding extended versions of some pistol controls (such as the slide release and magazine catch) might be helpful for one-handed operation. I'm a big Glock fan, and I shoot them one-handed fairly regularly, both to practice for competitions and to keep my one-handed (injured shooter) defensive skills sharp.

Many years ago, I knew a dedicated bulls-eye pistol shooter (NRA Standard Pistol competitor) who had a physical challenge similar to yours. After he recovered from the accident, he wanted to continue shooting, and so he designed and built (with the help of several shooting buddies) a custom "shooting station" that would assist him in manipulating the pistol for loading, unloading, and even clearing stoppages/malfunctions. Using something similar, you should be able to target-shoot just about any handgun(s) you'd like.

The basic requirements are a "cocking assist" block to aid in moving the slide to the rear during cocking/loading and unloading; a place to secure a magazine so you can fill it with ammunition; and a spot to hold the pistol with it securely pointing in a safe/downrange direction during sight adjustments, breaks in shooting, inserting a magazine, etc. In his case, most everything was made of wood, and attached to a board which was C-clamped to the benchtop at his shooting position. He had an angled block with a countersunk hole in the face, so he could align the front of the slide with the hole and press down, and the slide would be pushed to the rear for loading, unloading, and locking the slide back. He used a modified clamp to hold magazines during loading, and had a dedicated "tray" for loaded mags as well as ones waiting to be filled.

If you're interested in something like that, give me a few weeks, and I'll work up a prototype using one of my Glocks, and take a quick video clip of it being used at the range.

1. One-handed, you rack a semi-auto's slide by hooking its rear sight on your belt, and pushing the gun away from you.
It takes a bit of practice, but it isn't difficult.

2. Semi-auto reloads start with ejecting the empty magazine, and letting it fall to the ground.
Then, reverse your gun hand and clamp the pistol between slightly-bent knees, so it's grip and magazine well are pointing upward.
Release the gun, grab the reload magazine, shove it all the way in 'till it's properly seated, and then take the gun into your hand again.
If you now have to rack its slide, see #1, above.

I suggest that revolvers would be much more difficult to reload, without accessories and gadgets you wouldn't normally be carrying.
I further suggest that your carry holster needs a stiffly-supported pouch mouth that makes one-hand reholstering as easy as possible.

Upon further reflection, I think I would want a full-sized high capacity striker fired pistol (Glock, XD, M&P, etc.), and I would spend a lot of time practicing the reload drill. Chances are that a reload would not be necessary in the most common types of self defense scenarios. But you have to be prepared for a failure, or that unusual circumstance where a reload would be needed.

The biggest advantage a semi-auto has is you only have to rack the first round,the reload drill Steve talked about will allow you to keep firing without worrying about racking unless you have a failure of some type or slide fails to lock back